Just Ride

Main menu

Category Archives: Uncategorized

You would not believe what happened to me last night. I wouldn’t normally post this kind of thing but it did have a little to do with cycling. It made me laugh so hard and has gotten quite a few laughs from the people I have told. Okay so let me start by giving a little background of myself so you know where this story takes place.

I am a custodian at Two Rivers School. Two Rivers is a community separate from any city and is kind of like the redneck area of Alaska. I live in North Pole, Alaska, yes that’s right I live in the North Pole. Anyways from where I live to where I work is about 30 miles; so once summer hit I decided to start biking to work and back. My shift at work is from 2 pm to 10 pm.

It was the end of my shift and about 10 minutes before I needed to clock out. At this time I usually change out of my normal work clothes and into my biking wear. I am in my office doing just that. I have pealed all my clothes off down to my compression shorts (cool name for tight underwear) and socks. I am about to put on my bib shorts when I think to myself well I had better put my heart rate monitor on first. For those of you that don’t know a heart rate monitor is a band that wraps around your chest and sits right under your pectorals. Also if you didn’t know you need to get the electrodes wet on a heart rate monitor so they can make a connection to your body. Well I have no sink in my office so since I figure it is just me in the school I will run down the hallway to the bathroom in my underwear and socks. I get to the bathroom and am wetting the band when realization hits me.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I am locked out!!!!! I had left my keys in my office and my phone and any other way to get help. I am now in my underwear, with my socks, and a very wet heart rate monitor. I check all the doors in the school to see if I had forgotten one, but being such a great worker they were all very securely locked. I had no access to a phone so I was stranded. I then knew what I had to do.

I started walking. I took off my socks as to not get them dirty and started walking in my underwear to find help. Luckily not even a half mile down the road on a turn off there sat my salvation. It was a mom and her son enjoying the sunset with their dog. You may be wondering “sunset? at 10?” well if you don’t know in the Alaskan summers the sun basically never sets it just gets low. I come up to them and I was yelling so they would know I was coming and not be startled. The son who was about 21 comes out and you can imagine what he thought when he saw me in my underwear.

I gave him the quick run down of what happen and asked for his phone. He gave it to me happily but because of some lock he had on his calling abilities I couldn’t reach any of the few numbers I had memorized. So I asked if they could maybe give me a ride and that they did. They took me to a teacher’s house, that works at my school, and with whom I am friends.

I then proceed to jump out of the truck and knock on the door. They of course find my story hilarious and can’t stop laughing. I am shivering in my underwear because it is like 40 degrees outside. After they get done laughing I get the husband who is the teacher to take me back to the school and unlock the door for me.

So that was how my night went and boy wasn’t that a whole load of fun. I thought you guys might like to hear about it even if it is at the expense of my pride.

It seems that I spoke to quickly about Taylor Phinney no longer being in the Giro D’Italia. While he did get a ride in the ambulance he still crossed the line. He said he was a little jumbled during the crash and after the fact, but in the ambulance his head cleared up. He seems to have no broken bones and he is very thankful that today is a rest day. At this point it looks like he will ride on in the Giro. He is still in possession of the Maglia Rosa and is ahead of Geraint Thomas by 9 seconds. It’s great that he did not get knocked out of the competition by Roberto Ferrarri’s poor judgement. Robert Ferrari got put in last place for his actions. If you don’t know what I am talking about visit my post here, and watch the video of the crash.

My girlfriend is just looking into getting herself a nice mountain bike. I of course wanted to help her get the best bike she can for what she wants to do. This is a list of the bikes that would probably be best for her and any other woman reaching within her parameters. What she is looking for is a bike that she can take on moderate trail riding and not down hill crazy single track rides. The main things that this bikes will have is the price, weight, look, components, and tire size. You will see a lot of these bikes will have 29″ tires this is only because I prefer them and so does my girlfriend. Let’s kick things off.

Trek Marlin

The Trek Marlin is a really cool looking bike just because of the nice color scheme it has going on. It is a 29er and that gives it that great mountain bike look. A couple great things about the Marlin is it comes with disc brakes instead of rim brakes. The brakes are mechanical instead of hydraulic so not the best but still very functional. It is a hardtail and you will see that all the bikes on this list will be hardtails. It has a mix of lower end Shimano and Sram components. The fork has 80 mm travel. The frame is Trek’s Alpha Gold Aluminum. I don’t have a definite weight on this bike but from customer reviews it is a little heavier than they like. The bill of the Trek Marlin is $679.99.

Specialized Myka Sport Disc 29

This bike has the look of a specialized with the way the frame curves as it does. Some people like this newer look while others still like the more straight line geometry of a bike frame. This is supposedly meant to be lightweight and easy for girls to maneuver. The wheels are again 29″ and they come with disc brakes also. In addition the disc brakes are also mechanical. The fork has 80 mm of travel. This bike has much the same components as the Marlin if not completely identical; with a mix of Shimano and Sram. The frame is also aluminum as we will probably see in all these bikes. The Myka family has many options aside from this particular model, and ranging from $470 – $990. The Myka Sport Disc 29 costs $690.

Raleigh Eva 29 Sport

I think that personally this may be my favorite bike out of the list. I don’t know why but it has a really cool look to me and while it is a big name in cycling it is not so huge in america. To have one of these you would probably not see someone else riding the same bike. The odd angle of the top tube really intrigues me also, but that is all preference. It has mostly Shimano Alivio components which may still be low-end but still better than the components on either of the bikes I have shown previously. It again has mechanical disc brakes, but while the rear disc is again 160mm just like the previous two, the front brake is 180mm for more stopping power. The fork has 80mm of travel. With, as the name suggests, 29″ tires. The frame is of aluminum again. The end price for this bike is $739.

Kona Tika

The Kona Tika is a great mountain bike with a look and color very similar to the Trek Marlin I have put at the top of the list. Nice straight lines as far as the frame, which is also made of aluminum. Again this comes with 160mm disc brakes but the plus is that they are hydraulic making them that much nicer. Again pretty basic components mostly coming from Shimano. Not up to par with the Raleigh; equal or even better than the Trek or Specialized. Also the wheels on this girl is just 26″ which in my opinion is not great but you may prefer them. With the smaller wheels comes a smaller frame so the weight is lesser on this bike than the others. The Kona Tika costs $755.

Orange Diva

This is the most expensive bike on this list but it is the cheapest women’s mountain bike that Orange offers. I think this is a little better than the rest but it depends on what you want and of course when you pay more you get more. The components are Shimano Deore so a step even above even the Raleigh and two steps above the rest. The wheels are only 26″ inches but again that is preference. The biggest advantage is that the fork has more travel with and optimum travel of 100mm. This could be worth it to you but you must think about how you will use that travel because you will be paying for it. The frame is of course aluminum and the has a nice look with the slightly augmented top bar for the feminine riders. It comes with 160mm disc brakes. The final price for this bike is $899.99, which is over 100 more than the other bikes.

Cannondale Trail Women’s 6

I really like the look of this bike with the deep purple you can get it in or if you want a lighter ride it comes in white. This comes with mechanical, 160mm disc brakes. Again low-end Shimano components on this ride. The wheels are only 26″ but the fork has 100mm travel. This is really a pretty great bike for the price. The frame is without a doubt aluminum. The price tag comes in at $610.

The End

The list could go on and on but those are just a few of the ones that I am looking at and I will definitely have a post of the one that she picks and the reasons. I hope you find what you are looking for. If you want me to review more just leave a comment or visit my Suggestions Box! tab and tell me just what you want to hear from me.

This is yet another fulfillment of a suggestion from my Suggestion Box page I set up. I am loving that people are taking advantage of that page. If you would like a post about anything cycling just let me know! SexyFlexi asked me to make a post about cycling in the rain. I thought for a while on this one and after much deliberation I decided where to go with this post. Very few cyclist like to ride in the rain while some love it. The thing that all cyclist can agree on is how awesome and hardcore you look while cycling in the rain. It is like proving to mother nature that no matter what she throws your way you are going to ride anyways. So here is an album of some great cycling in the rain shots and cycling posters.

You had better run over to my new page. It is the “Suggestions Box!” page and you should check it out. I think it has a little something for everybody to do. I appreciate all people who support my site. I really want to be able to bring the biking community together through my site. I will be continually cooking up new ideas to do this and implementing them on my site as fast as I can.

Hello all my readers however few you may be let me introduce my new blog to you. I have started this blog because of my love for cycling, and the community that surrounds it. In this blog I will be bringing you information about cycling, from helpful exercises all the way to cycling shoe reviews.

I want to be a help to the cycling community, by providing a resource in which they can rely on to give quality information. My hopes in starting this blog is to teach the community what I know and to learn from the community what I do not. I understand the more I can collaborate with like-minded people, the more likely I can create a quality blog.

The style of my writing is smooth and easy to read. I want to keep it that way so as not to confuse anyone and get the information stated as clearly as possible. I like visuals such as videos and pictures so a lot of that will be included in my blog. I will keep the overall length of my posts short. I know when I go to read blogs I don’t want to get into a thirty page report on this subject. In the end, I want to make a blog that I myself would love, portraying my own voice. In this way I can draw in like-minded people.